"Stand Your Ground" bill wending its way thru MA legislature

[janet118]

Bill S.661 proposed by Stephen M. Brewer (a Democrat) is making its way through the legislature. Here is a list of the co-sponsors in case they are your representatives:

Shaunna N. O'Connell, Angelo J. Puppolo, Cleon H. Turner, Elizabeth A. Poirier, Susan W. Gifford, Nicholas A. Boldyga, Thomas A. Golden, Paul K. Frost, Matthew A. Beaton, Demetrius J. Atsalis, Daniel B. Winslow, Bradley H. Jones, Dennis A. Rosa, Viriato M. deMacedo, George T. Ross, Michael O. Moore, Bruce E. Tarr, George N. Peterson, Todd M. Smola, Marc T. Lombardo, Anne M. Gobi, Randy Hunt, Christine E. Canavan, John J. Binienda, Donald F. Humason, Richard Bastien

SECTION 1. Chapter 278: Section 8A. Killing or injuring a person defense of self or others;

Section 8A. It shall be an act of lawful defense if a person, who is an occupant of a dwelling or in any place that they have a right to be, used deadly force, or less than deadly force, if he or she acted in the reasonable belief that an assailant was about to inflict great bodily injury or death upon themselves or upon another person who also had a right to be in the location. There shall be no duty on a person to retreat from any place that they have a right to be. An act of lawful defense as outlined in this section shall not be cause for arrest or prosecution. Further, an act of lawful defense under this section shall not be cause for the revocation of a license issued under sections, 122, 123, 129B or 131 of Chapter 140.

SECTION 2. Chapter 231: Section 85U. Death or injury to assailants; liability of defender

Section 85U. No person who has committed an act of lawful defense as outlined in section 8A of chapter 278 shall be held liable in an action for damages for death or injuries to an assailant.

This should be nipped in the bud. Write or call NOW before it has to be repealed.

[jmowreader]

1. In this case I'm not overly worried

Massachusetts crawls so far up your ass before you can get a firearms identification card, they reject guys like George Zimmerman.

[Little Star]

2. That bill reads like Florida's. I don't like it. Thanks for the heads up.

[SamG]

3. Thanks for this link! What's dangerous about

laws such as these is dangerous in Massachusetts as in any other state.

Simply because Massachusetts may have much more restrictive gun licensing laws does NOT mean that each and every person with a gun license has the proper amount of training, nor the knowledge and good sense and self-restraint to always exercise that proper judgement at all times.

This is what is wrong with any stand your ground legislation. It places too high a burden upon the state to disprove an claim of self-defense. Confrontations with a firearm which result in a death are most often events without witnesses, and events that transpire within a few seconds. This places the state at considerable disadvantage in charging a certain group of murderers who do their un-witnessed deed and later get to claim a free pass around jail time, simply because of a law like this.

I'm not well versed in how many or what percentage of domestic murders take place with a gun in Massachusetts. I'm sure at least some or a few of those take place with a murderer being a licensed gun owner. It is chilling to think a law would give them a free pass.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. What many do not realize is that "no duty to retreat" is mostly NOT about guns

It is for fist fights too (when in public).

This also includes Castle Doctrine, something most people seem to support

[janet118]

5. This is the part of the law that really bothers me . . .

"An act of lawful defense as outlined in this section shall not be cause for arrest or prosecution." Who determines "lawful defense" especially if the other person is dead and there are no witnesses? Shouldn't there at least be an arrest and/or, at the very least, in the case of a shooting, a confiscation of the gun, along with a thorough investigation? As evidenced in Florida, this law puts police and states' attorneys in the position that, if they arrest someone on probable cause, they may be sued under the wording of this law.

How many people who have, after an investigation, been determined to have protected themselves, their loved ones or their property and gone to prison? Not many. Seriously, this law is a bad fix for something that isn't broken.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. Nothing in the FL law precludes a deep and thorough investigation

It also applies to all forms of self defense, including weaponless. Otherwise if someone attacks you with their fists, you have a duty to retreat and not defend yourself. Note that other statues in FL discuss the underlying requirement for the legal use of deadly force.

The FL statues state if there is not probable cause, the officer can be sued. I wish more states had that (think Occupy and PINAC)

[SamG]

7. Didn't I read in another thread that Patrick will..

veto the bill if it is passed?

I doubt it will make it that far now.

[MADem]

8. Yes, this is true.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120329/NEWS/120329454/1116

He says we don't need it--I concur. There's more at the link...

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick is vowing to veto a bill that would a create a so-called “Stand Your Ground” law in Massachusetts.

More than two dozen state lawmakers are backing the bill, which mirrors the law at the heart of the debate over the killing of an unarmed black teenager in Florida by a neighborhood watch captain.

State Sen. Stephen Brewer has sponsored the bill for the past five years. The Barre Democrat said his main goal is to protect individuals who defend themselves in public from criminal and civil penalties.

Massachusetts residents already have the right to defend themselves if they're attacked inside their homes.